Pat’s Progress: A Boone Timeline

A direct descendant of the frontiersman Daniel Boone, Charles Eugene Patrick “Pat” Boone is born, to a building contractor and a registered nurse, in Jacksonville, Florida.

1936

The Boone family moves to Nashville, Tennessee.

1947

At the age of 13 croons on a Saturday morning teen-talent radio program, “Youth on Parade,” where he is billed as a young Bing Crosby.

1952

Graduates from high school, and wins first place in the school’s talent contest, beating out a fellow classmate, a budding opera singer named Shirley Foley.

January 1953

Marries his singing competition, Shirley Foley. Attends David Lipscomb College, but then transfers to North Texas State University. The couple moves to Denton, Texas, and starts a family of four girls: Cherry, Lindy, Debby, and Laury. Debby will go on to have a smash hit in 1977, “You Light Up My Life,” charting at number one for 10 weeks, surpassing her father’s record.

April 1953

Appears on a local talent program, Ted Mack’s “Amateur Hour.” Lands a yearlong spot on Arthur Godfrey’s “Talent Scouts” and then wins a recording contract with Republic Records.

March 1955

Makes his first Top 40 recording, a cover of an R&B hit, “Two Hearts,” for Dot Records. Boone recalled, “I flew to Chicago and worked on it for about four hours. The next day we found out that Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, the Lancers, and the DeCastro Sisters were all jumping on the same song, so Randy [Randy Wood of Dot] sent me to 20 cities in 18 days. . . . [Everyone] thought Pat Boone had to be black, and I’d have to show them identification before they would accept that I was Pat Boone and wasn’t black. The record took off and went right into the top 10 and sold a million copies.”

1956

Repeats his formula for chart success throughout the fifties as the nice white boy, in signature white buck shoes, crooning in a smooth and sexless baritone—and making safe for mass consumption the output of black R&B artists. Rock ’n’ roll legend Little Richard said, “Pat Boone is the man who made me a millionaire.” Only Elvis Presley tops Boone’s pop-hits machine.

Hits of 1956

“Gee Whittakers!” #19

“I’ll Be Home” #4

“Tutti Frutti” #12

“Just as Long as I’m With You” #76

“Long Tall Sally” #8

“I Almost Lost My Mind” #1

“Friendly Persuasion” #

“Chains of Love” #20

“Howdy!” #14

1957

Hosts his own television show, “The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom.” He also begins making movies—beating Elvis to the punch. Boone will appear in 15 films, taking roles on the basis of a personal moral code, and, following his strictures, apparently turns down the chance to act with Marilyn Monroe.

Hits of 1957

“Don’t Forbid Me” #1

“Anastasia” #37

“Why Baby Why” #5

“I’m Waiting Just for You” #27

“Love Letters in the Sand” #1

“Bernadine” #14

“A Closer Walk With Thee” #13

“Remember You’re Mine” #6

“There’s a Gold Mine in the Sky” #20

“When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano” #90

“April Love” #1

1958

Graduates magna cum laude from Columbia University and publishes his best-selling book of advice for teens, ’Twixt Twelve and Twenty .